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My memories of Valentine’s Day as a kid involve two things: one, the paper decorations we always hung up in the windows (and can’t find in the stores anymore), and two, my mom’s Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies, cut out in the shape of a heart.

I haven’t made cut out cookies by myself EVER. I don’t have a lot of room in my house. Cats tend to jump up on things. I didn’t have a rolling pin or a place to roll the dough. So, I didn’t do it. But I always wanted to try to recreate my mom’s cookies.

Over ten years ago, my sister gave me a computer file with recipes, including the Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies. I had to convert it to a rich text file and clean it up, because the programs have changed since then. But I didn’t have the supplies to make them. Then, Last year, my sister gave me two rolling pins (my mom’s old rolling pin with peeling paint on the handles, and a heavy marble one), the mat she used for rolling out dough, and the old cookie cutters we used.

Since Valentine’s Day is coming up, and since we were about to get hit with our second blizzard in less than a week, I decided to finally make them. I told Lilia, I have never done this before, but it is always good to TRY NEW THINGS. She helped out immensely.

These are the cookie cutters we used:

They were quite tough to use– hard to pull back up. I don’t think it was just because I’m not an expert. I think I will get some plain metal cookie cutters in various shapes– I think that would be much easier.

Okay, on to the recipe. I actually googled to see if anyone else had the recipe out there, since I was not 100% sure I had it right (the files had added symbols between all the words and numbers!). I found a scan of the recipe card on a site called Noble Recipes, which has a note that it was from St. Lawrence Dairy– which was (or maybe is?) a dairy in Berks County, Penna., which makes sense. Here’s the recipe:

Rolled Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

2 cups sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 large or 3 small eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sour cream

5 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Gradually add sugar to butter, creaming thoroughly; add eggs and beat until fluffy.
Add vanilla and sour cream.
Sift dry ingredients together and add, mixing to a smooth soft dough.
Chill thoroughly, then roll out 1/3″ thick on floured board, and cut in large 3″ to 4″ cookies.
Place on greased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in moderate hot oven (375 to 400 degrees) until lightly browned. Makes about 3 dozen fat, soft cookies. If you want crisp cookies, roll the dough very thin.

Instead of sprinkling with sugar, I decided to ice them. I used this recipe:
Sugar Cookie Frosting
Ingredients for 4 dozen:
• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 5 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring
but I halved it:
Ingredients for 2 dozen:
• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening
• 2 tablespoons and 1-1/2 teaspoons milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• food coloring
•
Directions
1. In a large bowl, cream together the confectioners’ sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually mix in the milk and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth and stiff, about 5 minutes. Color with food coloring if desired.

I googled natural food colors, and found a suggestion to use Pomegranate Juice to color the icing pink.
Here is how they turned out. My disclaimer: I am not a food photographer. I’ve seen luscious photos of my friends’ meals and treats, but I cannot do it. I think part of it is that the cookies themselves are sloppy. The cookie cutters were VERY difficult. And I assigned the icing to Lilia and Joe. And, we don’t have a lot of room to store cookies and cool them– so the cookies stuck together once the icing was on. They still tasted pretty good!

I got this recipe from the now-defunct Wondertime Magazine– the only parenting magazine I could handle receiving every month. They replaced my subscription with Family Fun Magazine, which is not good for my self-esteem.

White bean, chicken, and chili soup
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chipped
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 large pinch cayenne (optional)
1 large pinch allspice
2 (4-ounce) cans chopped green chilies
2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, diced (cook them to your liking before you dice them, if you’d rather)
4 cups chicken broth (a 32-ounce box)
3 (15 ounce) cans white beans (great northern or navy), 2 drained, 1 with liquid
1 (16 ounce) bag frozen corn kernels
8 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, grated
Salt to taste

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat and saute onions until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, spices, and chilies, and saute for another minute. Add diced chicken and brother, and simmer until the chicken is opaque (if you used raw chicken), about 15 minutes.
Add beans, corn, and half the cheese, and simmer another 15 minutes.
Taste for salt, and serve with remaining cheese to sprinkle on top.

—-
It turns out more like a Chili than a Soup. I don’t add the cheese during cooking– we just add it to our bowls.

Had enough turkey? If not,  here’s a recipe they were handing out at Trader Joe’s last year:
Thanksgiving in a Skillet
1 pkg Ground Turkey
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 stick butter
1 pkg diced yams
1 pkg Stuffing mix
3 1/2 cups water

Melt butter in skillet with cover. Add onions and ground turkey. Cook until the onions are soft and turkey is cooked through. Add diced yams, water and stuffing seasoning pack to skillet. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer until yams are cooked through (about 15-20 minutes). Add stuffing. Turn off the heat. Leave skillet covered for 3-4 minutes. Uncover, stir, serve with Cranberry Sauce on the side (optional).

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The pre-cut yams were four or 5 dollars, and it was less than 2 dollars for a bag of regular sweet potatoes, so I cut them myself. The recipe card lists this website: www.tjrecipes.com– which is not a Trader Joe’s website. I found it listed here: http://tjrecipes.com/?p=969 , butt it is slightly different. If I make this again soon, I will have to make potato filling and Cope’s Dried Corn as sides… because can you believe this– I had neither for Thanksgiving!

Ah, here we are in Michigan, just in time for today’s Friday Recipe. In honor of Thanksgiving next week, I am posting three recipes for my favorite Thanksgiving dish– Potato Filling. But, I must confess, that I have only made my own filling a few times, and I can’t remember which recipe I used! I’m not cooking for Thanksgiving, but I will have to make some soon– the problem is, I like it sooooo much that I tend to eat WAY too much. What is your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

This recipe came from Grandmother, via my sister:

Grammom’s Potato Filling Recipe
6 lbs potatoes
3 stalks celery
3 onions (what she had written down. She told me 1 large or 2 med for 5 lbs)
dried parsley (lots — I have written down)
pinch of sage (no more than 1/4 t)
1/4 t onion powder
1 t seasoned salt
1/4 t celery salt
3 slices bread – toast it and cut up
2 eggs

cook celery and onion in 1/4 C butter (she did these separately.. don’t brown)

add seasonings.. parsley can be added now or to the potatoes.

add the bread crumbs.

Can maybe use 1/2 C Milk (depends on potato consistency)

Cook potatoes in salt water. Mash. Add eggs. Then add other stuff.
Grease pan with oil (butter will brown)
Put small pats of butter on top of potatoes stuff
Cook at 350
If you refrigerate let it warm up a bit before cooking

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Here is another recipe that comes from my Grandmother:
Grammom’s Potato Filling Recipe, Version 2
(using 8-10 Med. Potatoes)

Cook in Salted Water 8-10 Med. Potatoes or 6 large potatoes
Cut up 1 large onion and 4 med. ribs of celery
Saute onions in 3 tbs Butter (actually, Grammom said NO, use more like an entire STICK)
Push to back side of pan and Saute Celery
Mix Celery and Onion together
Add:
1 tsp Seasoned Salt (lawry’s)
1/8 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Onion Salt (well… she ammended this to say POWDER)
1/4 tsp. Celery Salt (again, powder… maybe Garlic Powder)
1 tsp. Parsley
Turn heat to Simmer
Toast a slice of bread, break it up and add to celery/onion mixture
Put aside

Mash Potatoes, add 2 eggs
Add Celery & Onion mixture and a Pinch of Sage

If it seems dry, add a little milk or Potato water
Put in a buttered Casserole Pan
Dot top with Butter
Bake at 350 ° till lightly browned– Approximately 45 minutes.

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And here is a third recipe, this one comes from Joan.

Potato Filling
Serves 6
8 medium to large white potatoes, died in small pieces
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup of celery, diced
1 cup of onion, diced
5 pieces of white bread, crust removed
1-cup warm milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1-teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper

Cook the diced potatoes and while they are boiling melt the butter and add the diced celery and onion. Saute until very tender.

When potatoes are soft, drain bread in cold water and squeeze dry. Break apart bread into pieces and add to potato mixture.

Add warm milk, the mixture of celery, onions and butter, salt and pinch of pepper and vigorously mash the entire mixture for several minutes (use a
hand potato masher if possible) until smooth.
Note: You may have to add a little more milk or butter to make the consistency thinner. You want the mixture to be a little thin, not dry.

Put in buttered casserole and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.
The top should have a light crust, but the filling should be creamy and smooth.

Note: You can prepare this the day before. Keep refrigerated.
The baking time could increase because the mixture is cold.

Note from Joan: I used 1/2 n 1/2 , when I cooked the onions and celery , I let it cool, added eggs to this mixture before adding it to the potatoes. I also used a half can of celery soup.

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Enjoy!

Don’t Fridays seem like a good day to post a recipe? Maybe I’ll start doing that, and this will be the first installment of Friday Recipe. Might be the first of one, or hopefully the first of many. I don’t have that many recipes though… I’ll have to start adding new things to my small repertoire of meals.

I have made six dozen of these cupcakes in the last few weeks, and they disappear very quickly.

Apple Cupcakes
Makes 2 Dozen
Ingredients
* 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking soda
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
* 2 cups sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 4 cups coarsely shredded apples, such as Macintosh (about 1 3/4 pounds)

Directions

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.
*Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
*Mix butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Mix in apples. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.
*Divide batter among lined cups, filling halfway; bake until tops are springy to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tins; transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

This recipe comes from Martha Stewart. I peeled and shredded the apples in the Cuisinart. I mixed everything with my hand-held mixer– I don’t have a stand mixer. I don’t use the full amount of sugar– I think it’s too much. And I made the Brown-Sugar Buttercream frosting one time, but it was too buttery and my family did not care for it. We eat them plain, but maybe a cream cheese frosting would be good.